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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Die, walnuts

We have a situation. Our back neighbors have these horrible, horrible black walnut trees that tower above our yard and drop crap all over our grass and planting beds. Up until this summer, it has just been annoying...but now, it is a straight-up hazard.

The biggest tree is dropping huge branches in our yard just about every time it rains or is windy. One morning we woke up and there were two big ones laying there. Not to mention all the stupid ass walnuts everywhere!

Our grass is an absolute minefield, and the walnuts break down and turn into sharp little pieces so we can't even let Ash walk barefoot. These things are like old wrinkled balls that terrorize us daily.

We have been throwing the nuts back over their fence for years, so I'm absolutely mortified to go over there and talk to them about this problem. Yes, we are very immature. I have actually taken videos of Ashford back here and you can see huge walnuts falling inches from his head. And if you can tell in this photo, there is a dead branch just hanging by a thread.

Now that we have a little guy playing in the yard, we just can't have this happening. I have no idea how much it would cost to have these trees cut down, but I'm sure it will be hundreds. Does anyone have any advice for me? Should I stop being an idiot and just go over there? Drop a to-the-point but nice note in their mailbox? Introduce a walnut-tree killing insect? Find a recipe to use all the dropped nuts?

11 comments:

You can call the city. Is it by a power line? Ours were by power lines so we energies cut it down for free. They don't do stump removal though. The city might send out in nspector if it is a hazard to you. Best of luck.

omg lol!! We have the exact same horrible tree with huge falling branches and green balls!! Its our neighbors tree and sits right outside of our fence facing our yard. Another bad thing about it is the leaves fall before any tree and make another huge mess....only in our yard!

Several years ago I also had an issue with a tree in a neighbors yard that looked like it was going to fall in my yard where my son played. I knocked on the owners door and spoke to the wife and waited for something to happen. after a few weeks of no action I called a lawyer. He was very happy to write a very friendly letter on his legal stationary with the words "liability" clearly stated. It only took 3 days before the tree was cut down. If you have to pay a lawyer, it's worth every penny to make sure your family is safe on your property.

I have a black walnut in my backyard. Did you know that their roots give off juglone that kills other plants? I remember you wrote something about a few of your plants that were not doing well this year. If they are within the root zone of the trees - the juglone could be killing them. There's only a limited list of plants that do well under black walnuts. I have a very sad looking Annabelle Hydrangea - it was on a local nursery's list as black walnut tolerant - but not this one: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1148.html.

Despite the amount of money I've wasted on dead perennials, the smelly walnuts, the brown husk stains on my fence, the green balls I roll my ankles on, the empty shells I step on in my bare feet, - I would never chop down my tree. The squirrels thank me. But even if I wanted to it's illegal here to cut down big trees.

I think you have to put up with the green ball annoyance (every other year?), but not the huge dropping branches. Take your son with you when you go talk to them.

I would go talk to them, but pretend the nut-throwing wasn't petty. Rather, you knew it would be wrong to keep their own hard-grown bounty, so tossed it back to is rightful owner. You have to say it with a straight face, though.

is the tree between the street and sidewalk? If yes, it is the city's responsibility to trim. If not, it's up to your neighbor, but if you tell him how much liability there is from falling branches to both your family and your property, he might wise up and pay to have it pruned. i'm currently fighting the same battle...my neighbor has a huge tree that drops crap constantly and she doesnt' give a damn about her property.

I don't have advice for this and for that I am sorry, I just wanted to add how much I hate how these trees smell. We had a few in our yard (our home growing up was surrounded by the woods, so they were all wild). Ugh, I hated stepping on them, and smelling them. I hope you can remedy the situation easily!

About Me

My name is Sara. I am a home owner/renovator, photographer, and stay at home mom in the Chicago area trying to cram all kinds of projects into the time my son is at school. Ashford is 3, and I had our second baby Zach December 2015, so things are pretty busy around here! I like slightly inappropriate humor, wine, and stalking house blogs. I love starting new DIY projects and sometimes hate finishing them. I love taking portraits of families, children and couples whenever I can. This blog is all about the projects my husband and I tackle, the projects that fizzle, and the funny things that happen to us along the way.